Fade, before you Burn
by Chyme for the Rhyme
Summary: 'No,' she says, loud and firm. 'I won't let Izuku be a hero at U.A.' Nothing he says after that, can get her to budge. (In which Midoriya Inko stands firm and won't let All Might's words sway her; and for the first time in his life, Izuku attends a different school from Bakugou Katsuki.)
1. Chapter 1

Day 5 (20/9) - Challenge - Parenthood - Magic

* * *

'Izuku? Izuku!'

His mother's voice is like a bell, it rings out through his memories with a warmth Izuku will never forget.

'Izuku? Come save me!'

Her eyes, peeking out of a duvet. Her arms welcoming him in when he wants to fly. Her quirk, with its magical pull, dragging at his hoodie when he's about to fall from her grip.

'Super!' she croons after him, as he yells, pushing him above her head. He is small then, small enough for her to keep safe.

And then one day, one day when he outgrows her, shooting up above the line of her head, he realises that she is still big enough to stop him.

'No,' she tells All Might, and tells him, Izuku, the one she apologised to for not being able to say the words All Might had given him so freely, the day he and Kacchan had been wrapped in sludge and almost lost their lives because of it.

'No,' she says, loud and firm. 'I won't let Izuku be a hero at U.A.'

Nothing he says after that can get her to budge.

* * *

He is lucky, he supposes that U.A. is willing to get him a recommendation. Lucky that there are schools out there who are willing to give him a shot. The big famous ones won't take him. But a small one, near where Gran Torino lives, is willing to give him a chance.

'You can still enter the Provisional License exam independently, so long as you get permission,' All Might advises him. Then he smiles, long and slow and sad. And Izuku feels a lump almost tear his throat in two, as he remembers hugging this man, clutching at his thin rake-like shape at the back, and wailing into his shirt. 'You are still too reliant on me. Perhaps, after all, some good can come of this decision your mother has made.' Then he leans forward, tapping on Izuku's arms. 'I don't want to see you break these again, young man, no matter what.' A stray eye, sharp and blue, focuses on Izuku's legs for a quick moment. 'Think on it.'

Izuku does. Truly. He does. But it's not until Iida and Uraraka come round a day later, that the spark of an idea catches hold of him. They are quiet and respectful the whole time, that fragile afternoon, accepting his mother's microwaved taiyaki with stilted smiles and firm hands, knowing better than to try and change her mind. That does not stop Uraraka from being on the verge of tears however, as she bites into the sweet red-bean filling and smears her tongue with its juice. She looks up, eyes glimmering like jewels caught in water, all so she can pat him on the shoulder as cheerfully as she can manage.

'You're going to be a great hero, Deku!' she exclaims after she chokes down her mouthful. 'I know it! I'll see you out there in the field when we make it as pros!'

Izuku swallows. It doesn't feel right. But Iida nods.

'I won't lose to you, Midoriya,' he states gravelly. 'Just as I know you won't lose to this drawback; still, we must respect your mother's concerns.'

Izuku watches them walk away afterwards, watches how Uraraka hesitates at the door, like she can't quite take that step across the threshold.

'Deku-kun!' she says suddenly, his name exploding from her mouth like an outburst. She spins, and Izuku sees the desperate shine in her eyes again, like this means _everything_ to her. 'I know you're going to keep moving forward! You're always the first one of us to step forward, even back at the entrance exam! You were the only one who came running for me, back then…' she looks down, twiddles with her hair nervously. 'And…and…one day I'll catch up to you! On my own two feet!' she nods decisively and Izuku watches her go, heart in his mouth. Her legs are wobbly, but the steps she takes are firm, even if her hands rush up to clutch at her cheeks in embarrassment.

Izuku is frozen then, watching her until she disappears, before his eyes travel down slowly to his feet. His feet…

It figures that once again, a few words from Uraraka can make his mind switch, change track, and see the world anew. Just like magic.

* * *

The school he is at, has no major Support Department. But Gran Torino, who keep popping his head in, after bullying his way in to becoming a supervisory teacher (honestly, Izuku isn't surprised; he's yet to find anyone who can say 'no' to the old man and remain standing afterwards) reaches out to the company who helped install him with his propulsion-aiding boots.

'Trust me, kid, it's not a handout,' he says over Izuku's protests. 'It's a necessity.'

Izuku gives up, after trying on the long armoured boots for the first time; perhaps they're not of the same quality as the ones he might have got at U.A., but they manage not to clash with his costume, comprising of a relatively sleek ebony-green, and the soles, he finds, as he runs a careful hand over them, are made of some hardened and tempered steel the company has been experimenting with recently. Out on the battlefield later, he finds they snap under his feet like bullets when he kicks, and the kids he's up against at school grimace and brace against them the first time they fight. Most of them aren't on the level as class 1A, though there are a few outliers, and two of them have some impressive quirks that Izuku privately thinks are deserving of better counseling that the sort they're receiving here.

Still, after smashing and kicking whatever comes flying his way, Izuku thinks he's on the right track. Well. Almost.

'Not bad,' Gran Torino sniffs as they both stumble over the rocky outfields of the school's training area that afternoon; it's smaller and less diverse that U.A.s but still, a valuable place to train.

Izuku looks up at him with a gasp, sweat clouding his brow, and making a swamp out of his hair. He's exhausted. But Gran Torino simply leans towards him with a grin. A grin All Might probably grew to fear.

'Now then, _Deku_. Do it again. And keep at it, until you can actually land _two_ hits on me.'

* * *

And then he gets the call. All Might. In the hospital. The phone trembles in his grip. It remains there, even as he races all the way back to the white building in another city, evens as he waits on the train for an ungodly amount of time beforehand.

And... _All Might._ He looks impossibly small when Izuku gets there, buried under white sheets, his back braced by plaster, and his arms hooked up in a cast. Blood dribbles from his mouth as he speaks, and his eyes, when he stares at Izuku, have this lost look, made almost lucid by the painkillers flooding his system.

'I was lucky,' he says gravely. 'Lucky. Aizawa yanked me out of the way mostly; he just wasn't quite fast enough to save all of me.' he coughs, then with a bitter expression on his face says, 'don't worry. This was a hard lesson from me to learn, but I've learnt it. I'll be more aware of my surroundings now. I'm sorry to make you worry, my boy.'

Izuku reaches out and with a trembling hand, grips one of All Might's which remains resolutely still, held in place by the mountain of bandages wrapped over and around it.

All Might sends him a fond look. 'Young Midoriya. I need you to do me a favor…'

* * *

Izuku finds Kacchan at the familiar U.A. training grounds, the frustration buried so deeply on his face that it almost hurts. Almost. Izuku reminds himself that All Might is in worse pain. Physically at least. The pain and guilt Kacchan feels…well. Izuku wants to heal it. But he also thinks Kacchan needs to feel it a little more, before he can let it go.

'Kacchan,' he says, and the other boy whirls round to see him, shock and surprise fading into disgruntle anger.

'The hell are you doing here, after you rejected U.A.!?' he growls, low and heavy, and Izuku frowns, because there's something wrong with Kacchan's anger here. There's no feverous heat behind it, and his eyes, when they look at Izuku, seem dead.

'I didn't reject U.A., my Mom did,' he replies stoutly, as he feels the distinction is important to make; he doesn't want anyone to feel as though they've been abandoned. But still, something flashes through Kacchan's eyes at Izuku's words, and his shoulders hunch as though bracing for the recoil of an explosion.

'Huh. She's got more sense then you then.' And before Izuku can wonder at what he means by that, Kacchan marches up to him. 'Doesn't answer the question though. Now: for the last time: what are you doing here, Deku?'

Izuku looks at him, sees the strange, cold, almost clinical anger in his eyes, and takes a breath. 'You haven't been to see All Might,' he says in a rush, wincing as he sees whatever emotion animating Kacchan rapidly leave his face, swimming out of his eyes before they have time to glare. His red eyes look almost grey at this angle, and Izuku takes another breath. 'He wants you to come see him. But if you really don't want to… he wants me to tell you that his words from back at the…accident haven't changed. It's not your fault.'

Kacchan trembles. 'Not my fault?' he whispers. 'Not my FAULT!' he whirls round and sends a heated punch into the air, rocky debris flooding out into ashes on a wave of orange heat. 'DAMN IT! OF COURSE IT WAS MY FAULT! WAS THERE ANYONE ELSE EXPLODING ROCKS UP THERE?! NO?! THEN WHO ELSE SHOULD TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT!'

'He said you were practising an ultimate move and he got too close; that he should have been more aware of his…condition,' Izuku near-whispers.

Kacchan's shoulders tremble even more violently. 'And you, his little messenger boy, came out to reassure me with a lie? Well, isn't that touching?' He aims a violent look at Deku. 'You must feel mighty pleased with yourself, huh, Deku?'

Izuku feels something swell up in him at that.

'GET A GRIP!' he yells back. 'ALL MIGHT'S HURTING FAR WORSE THAN THIS AND FOR FAR LONGER THAN YOU AND EVERYBODY ELSE THINK-' he slams his mouth shut, because he's remembering slightly, than although All Might's condition is known, he hasn't published how long it's lasted, or what caused it in the first place. And Kacchan is smart. He's already looking at Izuku as though the gears are falling into place. Izuku breathes out. Smooths out the hands that have inadvertently turned into fists. 'Kacchan,' he says. 'I don't care if you hate me even more for this; but I'm glad this happened. Because if it had happened anywhere else, at a training field not monitored by Aizawa-sensei, or out there, because of a villain, All Might wouldn't be in the hospital. He'd be dead. And neither you or I want that to happen.'

He turns. Turns and walks away. And ignores the screech he hears behind him, or the explosions that blare their heat at his retreating back. He feels like a coward, like his heart's been plucked out. And he's not entirely sure why.

* * *

'Izuku, Izuku,' he hears his dreams call that night. 'Why can't you do it, Izuku?'

The voice that calls his name does not ring like a bell; it caws, loud and grating, like a crow's. Four year old Kacchan's voice, before his brain preyed upon the characters in Izuku's name and made a mockery of it, creating the 'Deku' Izuku now wants to wear with pride.

He wakes, startled by this dream that imitates a memory so well, and wonders what a sixteen year old Kacchan's voice would sound like, after it calls him by the name it likes to forget exists.

Gruffier. Angrier. Izuku clutches his sheets and turns his mind away, wondering how they differ from the ones in the dorms his former classmates now inhabit.

He doesn't want to think about the fact that Kacchan still sounds like he needs to be saved. No, right now he needs to focus on _winning_.

* * *

 **Notes:** Can you tell I'm running out of imagination yet? I can.


	2. Chapter 2

**Day 6** (21/9) - Truce Vacancies Admiration

* * *

Izuku is surprised he has all his limbs. The Provisional Exam is rough. Balls are flying everywhere and a little neon sign, in the back of his mind, is letting him know U.A. are the prime targets. And theoretically, he _could_ and he _should_ …maybe…take advantage of this?

For Izuku has known, from the get-go, that U.A. will be the primary targets. And to think! He had been so happy, to realise he would have a chance to meet everyone again! But hearing the second years and third years at his school whisper about they should take down those 'snobby bastards' and hearing his homeroom teacher advise him of this exact course of action, as though it's the best strategy and he'd be a fool to let 'prior emotions get in the way…'

Well. The fact that it sounds oddly similar to the way Aizawa likes to wax on about doing the 'logical' thing, sends Izuku's guts plummeting straight into his shoes. Still. It's sound advice.

So he compromises. He stays still and observes everyone that he used to talk to, either split up or retreat to a cluster of rocks on the far side of the exam field. And he watches everyone _else_ make a beeline for his former classmates, before he quickly runs in behind the onslaught, his newly-practised kicks firing out at the same rate as his arms, as they aims and throws out four of his balls.

 _Beep, beep, beep._

More of his targets are met that he expected, some of the trigger-happy students not expecting a hit to the literal back, and Izuku quickly finds himself racing off again, a new target for others to pursue. After all, he was at U.A.'s festival too; it's not like the nature of his quirk is a big secret, just certain…aspects of it.

It still has him giving his new equipment a full-workout though, his brain grinding down into a monosyllabic rut of _kick and thrust, kick and thrust._ And being accosted by some strange girl with big lips who says some unsettling things, a few minutes later, isn't fun either.

Still, he meets his targets, in more ways than one. At one point, Izuku finds a ball in his trembling fists, and he wavers, aiming a throw at Aoyama who is struggling, practically crawling across the field like a half-drowned cat.

He takes a breath. Fixes his eyes more firmly on Aoyama's quivering form. And lets the ball in his hand sail out, to strike dead and true.

 _Beep._

And then out fly the other two, seized from his belt in succession, before he has time to second-guess himself.

 _Beep. Beep._

Because the bitter truth is, he's come too far to let down All Might. Not when the man's now trapped in a hospital bed, unable to reach out and save a single thing. Izuku feels bad, feels awful, even as he ducks behind a rock to avoid the quick spin of Aoyama's head as it seeks him out. But honestly, he thinks, as his fist clenches tight, trapping the blood in his wrist, he'll do the same thing again and again, no matter what it takes.

That, he's starting to learn, is what it means to be a hero.

* * *

'Deku-kun! Deku-kun!'

Uraraka bursts into his vision like a bright flower, all shimmering eyes and waving hands. She's light on her feet, even in the dun colour of the anteroom, practically beaming despite the dirt on her face and the dishevelled flounce of her hair that turns out from its usual curves.

'I knew I'd find you here!' she exclaims, clapping her hands together in excitement. 'This exam sure is tough, huh? They almost got me!'

Izuku smiles at her; despite her rather air-headed manner of speech sometimes, he knows she's got a quick mind, and a knack for strategy. He doesn't doubt that she's used her quirk in all the right places, at all the right moments in order to turn up in this room with him.

A shadow falls over his face. And he turns, to meet the stern expression on Iida's.

'I'm glad you made it here, too Iida-kun,' he greets.

But Iida stares at him, unsmiling. 'I saw what you did to Aoyama-kun. Midoriya…I never thought you were the kind of person to-'

'-to what? Win?'

They all jump, spinning in their surprise, to see Kacchan glaring at them all sullenly. There's a razor-sharp edge to his voice, but it's muted somehow, almost like he's having to put actual effort into making it sound as virulent as he'd like. Either way, it's enough to get Izuku's hackles to rise.

'Don't kid yourself, Glasses,' Kacchan spits at them now; and behind him, Izuku sees Kaminari and Kirishima give each other strange, baffled stares. 'Deku's always been the kind of idiot who craves victory. Even more so than your petty notions of 'honour' or 'keeping the class together.'

Iida squares his shoulders, arm chopping rhythmically through the air and Izuku's got to give it to him; despite the way Kacchan likes to mock him for his straight-A behaviour, Iida has never once backed down from his retorts.

'Even so! Not that short a while ago, we were comrades! Fellow classmates! Surely-'

'Not anymore we're not!' Kacchan savagely points out, a dim sneer on his face. 'Or did you not get the memo, eh, Number Two?'

Okay, that's obviously a clear barb at Iida for daring to be better than Kacchan academically. If Izuku were a little braver, and in Iida's position, he would call Kacchan 'Number Three' to his face! Except he's not, and even if he was…he's not 'Number Four' in the class academically anymore. Not even that.

He's in a different class with a different number. 'Two' of all things.

His bites his lip and glances at Kacchan. But the other doesn't meet his eyes. Keeps them fixed on Iida, before he tears them away. And to Izuku, it's almost like being back in Middle School again for those last ten months of their final year together, back when Kacchan's gaze would sweep over him and away, every time without fail.

'You're not the only one with their eyes fixed on the top, you damn Deku, remember that,' this Kacchan now says, addressing the air as though Izuku's not listening, and in their gloves Izuku's fingers twitch.

Iida frowns. 'Bakugou has a point,' he says grudgingly. 'I'm just-'

'Disappointed?' Izuku interrupts. 'That's fine. I am too. But I'm not sorry. We all need to get our licenses. I expect you to do whatever you need to beat me too, if you need to.'

Iida straightens at that, something appeased in his expression and Uraraka glances between them worriedly.

Then Iida's face breaks. His smiles turns lop-sided. And he says 'I'm being quite childish again, aren't i?'

Izuku manages a smile. 'No. No more than I am. I'm sorry.'

And deep down, he hopes he means it.

* * *

It's fate of course, that they clash. Him and Kacchan. It doesn't feel like it at the time though.

Izuku has just pulled a boy free of some fallen trees in a ruined park, carefully dusted his palms and inspected his skin for splinters, and then pointed out the direction of the nearest med bay, (mainly because that the actor isn't choosing to mime a broken leg) when he hears a yelp. He whirls, and watches, with some sort of muted disbelief, as Kacchan drags a girl out of a crater nearby. Pipes fall as Kacchan bushes them aside with his shoulder brusquely, and the girl squeals as he twists her round by her arm, her flesh flushing white under his grip.

'Ow, ow! You're hurting me! Minus three points!'

'Hah!' Kacchan whirls on her, a savage light in his eyes and Izuku blinks, woken from the dream. 'I don't see you unconscious, or heaving around any broken limbs! You can walk just fine, can't ya?' he gives her arm a tiny pinch as though to reassure them both of this fact, and the girl screws up her face in exaggerated pain.

'Ooooow!'

Kacchan looks taken aback, and Izuku can't blame him. Even he can tell that there was no real heat packed into that cry.

'Minus four points!'

The veins in Kacchan's eyes bulge. 'HAAAH! WHY'S THE PENALTY GONE UP A SINGLE STINKIN' POINT FOR SOMETHING THAT HURTS EVEN LESS!'

Oh, thinks Izuku dully. So Kacchan's admitting that his first action might have been a tad overzealous. Grimly, he exchanges a defeated look with Kacchan's two faithful shadows who have now appeared over his shoulder, Kaminari and Kirishima.

'Dude,' Kaminari ventures, hands hovering upwards, bravely towards Kacchan. 'Maybe you should stop, while you still actually have some points left?'

But Kacchan's focus is locked on the girl. 'The hell you get off, playing a damsel and subtracting points for stuff just because you feel like it?' he demands.

And okay, the girl's grinning at him in a way that doesn't seem either sane or healthy, and Izuku understands _a little_ why Kacchan's annoyed because of it, but-

'Kacchan,' he says levelly. 'Let her go.'

Kacchan freezes. His arm drops. And now he turns, pure murder on his face.

'Oh?' he damn near whispers. 'Did some _stranger_ from _another school_ tell me what to do?'

His palm, now free of the actor's elbow crackles with a familiar orange heat. Izuku swallows, suddenly idly aware of the large distance between him and the nearest med bay.

'N-No,' he sputters. 'You're right! I just…if she doesn't need help and doesn't want it, then there's no point wasting-'

But it's a lost cause as it always is, and he's walking backwards, hands outstretched as though his poor, useless palms could do anything more than push Kacchan away with a simple shove, not when the other boy is striding over towards him menacingly with _that_ look upon his face.

'Damn, stupid, useless Deku, always gotta be sticking your nose in my business, huh?'

'No-' Izuku attempts once more, to fend off with words alone, only to duck down as Kacchan's arm swipes out.

'DUDE!'

'STOP!'

Kacchan's two friends run out to stop him and Kacchan doesn't even look at them, sends a blast out to disrupt the pointer Kaminari tries to shoot out towards them, and leaps up, spinning round to conk Kirishima in the stomach with a super-heated fist, before the other boy has time to shift the hardening armour of skin to that tender point.

Izuku stares, aghast. But then Kacchan looks at him with a growl, and he must do more than stare, he must run and jump and duck and-

Within seconds, orange and yellow sweep over him, explode against him, trying to engulf his body in a wash of heat, and Izuku kicks out, ducks and dodges, trying to conjure up gales with his new-found kicks to block the worse of it. Even now, it's a work in progress; he can't work with Iida for new moves anymore, though his friend has, kindly enough, texted him a few references when he's asked and his new school isn't all bad; there have been people specialising in kick attacks who are willing to work with him despite his lofty U.A. origin. Not to mention Gran Torino is well, Gran Torino. He understands a lot about using your legs in general.

Still. It's only barely enough to escape Kacchan's rage.

'What are you doing?' he hollers over an outpouring of rage. 'We don't have time for this!'

Kacchan lets out a scream of rage because Izuku is right, and he knows it, but there's something feral in his eyes that seems to block out the usual intelligence Izuku knows is there, lurking behind them. And Izuku feels his heart sink as Kacchan rears his fists and twists into a glob of heat and light, barrelling towards him with a speed he can't help but block against. Because this intensity, these grudge-filled strikes; it feels horribly like their match at U.A. in their first combat training lesson, with Kacchan too focused on Izuku's presence to care about the objective he should be focusing on. And Izuku is worried, disturbed and frightened by it all; Kacchan, the Kacchan he knows, wouldn't do this, wouldn't let his chance to grab a provisional license slip away. He's learnt from that fight at U.A., agreed and absorbed every word of the biting review Momo left them with that day, so why…

Kacchan charges again as Izuku slips and rolls to get away, something desperate in his eyes. His fingers clip Izuku's hairline, and Izuku's teeth ram into his lip; because he wants his license! But Kacchan isn't letting him dodge, isn't letting him run to help these people out here, so Izuku grits these same teeth and lets Kacchan chase him to the edge of the dirt-filled arena where there aren't any actors crawling around with blood on their faces.

And then there's even more screaming and spinning, and Izuku hopes there isn't any collateral damage; but if his control over Full Cowling slips sometimes, and rears up to eight percent, then he's too pissed at Kacchan to moderate it completely, not when Kacchan is so earnestly ruining their chances likes this. It's almost like Kacchan doesn't think either of them deserve to-

Izuku snaps that trail of thought clean off, as he is hurtled into a wall. Even lost as he is in this inferno of rage, Kacchan is a combat genius who doesn't lose his edge. Izuku can tell that Kacchan is choking down words he wants to scream at him, words he wants or perhaps Izuku needs to hear; but words that he can't bring himself to release. At least not in front of other people.

And Izuku wants to be a hero, he does; but he needs Kacchan to be one too. So he fights, he accepts it all, the spectre of All Might leaking into his vision as the tears fly from his eyes, before they're rapidly evaporated by the heat that washes from Kacchan's palm slamming down against his face.

And then wind flies up between them, and ices circles round and springs up before his eyes. These two elements close in, squash them together like prisoners , and despite the glares Todoroki and Inasa shoot at each other, they manage to function side-by-side, to quell the rage-filled fight between Izuku and Katsuki.

Izuku breathes. He looks up at Kacchan, through the fingers that cage his face against the ground, and Kacchan looks down in return, the pants shaking his frame and sending sweat rolling off his face to splash against his neck. Izuku can see each tendon clearly, wire-thin and read to snap under the strain.

The buzzer sounds and Izuku wearily closes his eyes. He's failed. He's failed All Might.

'Kacchan,' he wheezes. 'It's over. We've both lost.'

Kacchan's hand against his face trembles. Slides off. And doesn't even punch the side of the ground in frustration.

'The hell's wrong with you,' he breathes out, sourly. 'Get angry, damnit!'

'NO!' snaps Izuku despite the fact that by doing so, he's doing exactly as Kacchan demands. 'You're usually always so amazing, and yeah, sure, you're stronger, but right now…sorry, Kacchan, I don't think you're amazing at all!'

Confusion twists Kacchan's brow, despite the agony written into his eyes, and he looks down at Izuku as though…as though Izuku is some complex puzzle he can't quite figure out.

'The hell's wrong with you?' he asks again, quieter, almost softly, with a barely-there crack in his voice to betray him. His other hand, the one gripping Izuku's wrist and holding it against the earth, tightens, then softens, fingers almost tenderly stroking the pulse point that drums there. 'I can't tell if you're lying or not.'

Izuku doesn't understand a word of what Kacchan's saying. So he pushes a weak hand up, shoves at Kacchan's chest. 'You had so many things that I didn't,' he mutters sourly, tired of keeping his words locked in, for fear of provoking Kacchan into doing something stupid. 'And despite that, you're throwing them all away now. For something like this, for the guy you've always looked down on.' He sighs again. 'Kacchan…'

How can I save you, he thinks, when I wasn't there to save All Might?

Kacchan gives him one final, tired look, then clambers off him. 'That's my line,' he rumbles. 'You've always looked down on me, proclaiming that you're the one who's gonna be a hero, without a quirk, without training, until the last few months before the entrance exam, where suddenly you actually give a damn about what your measly body can pull off.' His face twists. 'And now you just turn up here, without a care in the world, All Might's little protégé, you and borrowed quirk both…how the hell is you were the one who started to rise above me? And all I did was drag All-' his mouth clamps shuts.

But Izuku's mind whirls. It shudders. But before he can say anything else, Kacchan lifts himself away from Izuku and turns, the line of his back already a mountain Izuku can't hope to scale.

'W-wait,' he coughs out. 'Kacchan!'

But of course, like always, Kacchan doesn't. He never has. And why, Izuku thinks bitterly, should he bother to start now?

* * *

They both fail, of course. Izuku can't help but feel the sting of unfairness though.

'Congratulations,' he tells Todoroki, 'you deserve it.'

Todoroki frowns at him. 'Yeah,' he says, in that detached manner he has. 'But so do you.'

Izuku blinks, surprised. 'No,' he says. 'I failed. I couldn't think of a way to get Kacchan to stop. What kind of hero can't defeat someone trying to pick a fight with them during an emergency?'

Todoroki blinks as Iida peers over at Izuku's test sheet. The boy is practically vibrating in excitement. 'You didn't fall below the threshold of fifty points that much!' he points out excitedly. 'Which means the examiners noted that you were trying to keep the damage Bakugou was causing to a minimum! I can't see you not passing this intensive course they have planned out!'

Izuku blinks; the test paper he's been handed has just sort of…blurred before his eyes. But now, under Iida's excitable jabs of his fingers, he finds his eyes tracing over each curve and loop of the text decorating his page.

'That's right, that's right!' chirps Uraraka, bouncing at his shoulder, her hand clutched at his sleeve...before her face springs into a neon-pink colour, her pupils turn swirly and her fingers abruptly fall off. Izuku frowns, insulted a little, by how adverse she seems to be to the idea of touching him. 'You'll…get it for sure, Deku-kun!'

Still, he finds himself smiling at her earnestly. She's always inspired him in positive ways. She helped re-christen him with the name Deku, helped spin its meaning into something good, and without her words, he would have been stuck, unable to take a step, back when he worried about ever throwing a punch again.

'You're right,' he says softly, almost crushing the paper between his hands. 'I won't lose.'

And determinedly, he does not seek out the presence of Kacchan's back with his eyes.

* * *

Izuku doesn't know how to apologise to All Might. He tries though. He bows his head at the side of the hospital bed, ready to receive his scolding, but All Might simply chokes off his own sight with one heavy palm across his face and intones gravelly, 'no, no, I should have foreseen this, young Midoriya. I should have paid closer attention to young Bakugou's mental health.'

And Izuku hunches his shoulders as this, because maybe he should have too. Kacchan is carrying something deep and poisonous, he always has been. Izuku figures that pushing All Might into the hospital has simply been the trigger to set it all off.

Still, he finds himself hunching in even further, when his school sends him to his first lesson on the remedial course at a public location, and Kacchan somehow, is there waiting.

'Hey,' he says, not an ounce of guilt on his face. And Izuku wishes he has a similar talent, to wipe his expression clean, because he's certain he's glaring at Kacchan back, equally as hard. Honestly, it's the closest he's come to hating Kacchan in a long while.

Don't 'hey' me, he wants to say.

Then, to his surprise the words come spilling out. 'Don't' hey' me, _Bakugou_.' He is so surprised at himself that he hardly registers the way he struts past Kacchan's slightly wide-eyed expression. Though, of course, he can't help but register the fist that seizes the back of his shirt, crumpling it in its grip, before he's swung back round.

'What's with that? So you really are leaving me behind, Deku?! How did a nobody like you start out-pacing _me_?'

Izuku looks at Kacchan and is tired, suddenly. Tired of the anger, of the hurt.

'I don't know,' he says dully. 'Probably on the day you decided to no longer _talk_ with me.'

He's tired. Kacchan has cost him his license, and thrust All Might into hospital, even if it's accidently. Izuku is actually incredibly resentful of that, even if he's gleaned a new insight into his behaviour.

'I've never lied,' he says now, despite the press of Kacchan's fist warring at his shirt. 'I always thought you were amazing. Like All Might, only closer. It's why I could never stop chasing you.'

Kacchan's fist impossibly, slowly, loosens. But then he steps forward, right into Izuku's space. 'And then, what?' he hisses, a venomous slant to his eyes. His breath heated and fierce, seems to bat Izuku against the side of his face. 'All Might handed off his fancy quirk to you and you decided you could suddenly beat me?'

Izuku's breath becomes stuck in his breath. Any moisture he had in his mouth, fades, becomes drawn in by his nerves.

 _I knew it_ , he thinks, _I knew it._

'Kacchan,' he says. 'We can't do this now.'

Truce, he wants to say. For once in your life, just let us both exist, without coming to blows. You've managed to do that most of this year, after all.

But as though Kacchan can read his thoughts, he sniffs. Steps back. 'Of course,' he growls out, sounding indignant. 'I'm not stupid, Deku.'

Izuku tightens his fists. 'And not afterwards either,' he says back stoutly, raising his chin. 'No; if we're going to do this, I want you do it in front of All Might; it was his secret first.'

Before I betrayed it to you, he thinks, and does not say. But Kacchan, despite misreading his expression for years, apparently, seems to have a good grip on the one currently flooding Izuku's eyes and twisting his mouth up into an awkward shape. Because he grimaces.

And then, amazingly, miraculously, nods.

* * *

The lesson goes smoothly enough; Kacchan waits outside, being a U.A. student, and although Izuku is burning, wondering at how Kacchan knew where to find him, he suspects it wasn't that difficult. His school is small, with no dorm for him to sleep in; the connections it has to outside facilities can be labelled using the fingers of one and a half hands and honestly, you could probably track them down with a good hour of internet searching.

Izuku is just a little touched, privately, that Kacchan still thinks he's worthy of the effort. He spares the other boy a glance, and sees that familiar scowl getting thicker and thicker as they approach the hospital. By the time they're both by the side of All Might's bed, an absolute storm is warring there, on his face.

Izuku catches at the sigh that wants to explode out of his throat, and pushes it down.

And that's how it begins. Kacchan, brave as he is, takes the first step.

'Why'd you give this loser your quirk?' he asks All Might, jabbing his thumb at Izuku. 'He almost killed himself running full tilt at the sludge villain – that's when it began, right? Why'd you give him something that caused him to almost blow his arm off?'

Izuku blinks. He hadn't been expecting Kacchan to phrase things quite like that. A fond smile twists his lips at the thought, and All Might spots it, because something sharpens in his gaze.

'Young Bakugou,' he says. 'I owe you an apology; but I've also heard what happened at the Provisional Exam.' He sighs. 'This is my fault; I was negligent towards you, and as a result you let your temper get the better of you, so much so, that it cost both you and Midoriya the chance to stand in the same ring as the rest of your peers.' He fixes Kacchan with an icy cold eye. 'I owe you a lot. But I think this time you owe Midoriya something too.'

Kacchan stiffens. But he listens. He listens all the way through as All Might unveils the history behind One For All, his expression steely and with no hint of pain or anger, or anything else Izuku feels may be brewing beneath. And when it's done, when they leave, he comes to a halt in the main foyer.

Izuku tenses. All Might is floors away, locked in a bed. Kacchan probably feels safe enough to let his true thoughts out here, whatever they are.

Kacchan breathes. The barks out, 'oi…your kicks need work. I can still see where they're going to land, because your wind-up motions beforehand are too big and eat up to much time.'

Izuku listens to this criticism with wide eyes. And Kacchan swallows, a very un-Kacchan-like thing to do. Before he looks him dead in the face.

'I'll…spar with you some time. I…' and her he grits his teeth, rigid and at war with himself against. Tense, his fingers become claws, fighting the air as they flinch and flex. '…owe you,' he says finally. 'Like All Might says.'

Izuku blinks. And feels something loosen inside him.

'Okay, Kacchan,' he says quietly. 'I need to surpass you, after all.'

Kacchan's head whips round. His eyes become jagged, white, almost entirely free of his pupils. Really, Izuku's never known anyone who can make the face Kacchan does when he's mad. So he braces himself. And lets Kacchan's yells roll over him.

Though he does of course, take care, to return a few of his own…after they walk past the hospital doors into the outside world. There, his words come out easier.

* * *

 **Notes:** In the series, failing the exam is Katsuki's tipping point. But in this universe Izuku, the one constant in his life, leaves and there's no one for him to measure himself against when he accidently hurts All Might…because of course Izuku isn't there to block off the rocks that nearly crush him. And given how responsible Katsuki feels for All Might's retirement, nearly killing the guy makes him reach his breaking point that much sooner.

I mean, it still feels out of character to have him risk failing the license exam. But then again, I don't think we ever see him seriously transporting any of the actors to the designated medical bays at the exam site. Just…he's not ignorant, he does make rapid-fire judgements about who needs help and who doesn't, but we don't see him actively do that much of it, not in the same way other classmates are doing it. Makes me wonder if he was purposefully ignoring what he needed to do at that portion of the exam because it felt a bit too much like what Izuku would do and he hates that Izuku has something that he knows, instinctively, that he's missing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 7** (22/9) - Recrudescence - Triumph - Kyoto Tower

* * *

Exchanging telephone numbers feels like a momentous occasion. Izuku stares as Kacchan practically whips the phone out of his hands, drums in his details under a second, and hands it back to him. He then stares down at the contact name in resignation.

BetterThanADeku, it reads and Izuku wonders how pissed Kacchan will be if he changes it to something equally as childish.

…But later, away from Kacchan's eagle-sharp eyes.

It's worth it, he tells himself fiercely. It has to be.

* * *

It is worth it. Izuku feels it in the way his kicks get faster stronger, how his body starts to learn to move without him thinking about his next course of action. It's grating but Kacchan has always been better at fighting **_and_** thinking, rather than falling into Izuku's chosen method of calculation before he manages to fire off a single move.

This instinct runs hot and heavy in Kacchan. It's there when he manage to smash Izuku's face into the dirt. It's there when he teaches Izuku the folly of trying to work out if Kacchan's going to swipe at him with either his favoured right arm, or his equally as flexible left. Izuku often ends up with either a burn or a bruise to his cheek for the trouble, and Kacchan always stops to leer at him, as though purposefully inviting him to take another go.

'You think you're so good at keep your power running at a certain percentage, yeah?' he asks, the sharpness of his eyes raking Izuku through; and Izuku shivers at the contact. There's nothing dead about them now, no, they burn and curdle, even when they stare at him from the corner of his vision, red and hot, and unwilling to concede an inch of his attention. 'But how about you learn to the same to your brain?' He smirks, all of him unfriendly. 'Or do you actually enjoy it, when I crush you?'

'I don't!' Izuku exclaims, managing to get in a successful uppercut without thinking about it. He doesn't even pause to realise the achievement and he thinks, dizzily, that he might even see the bite of approval in Kacchan's eyes, before the other is whirling round with the new momentum that Izuku barely manages to diffuse with a quick kick.

Kacchan laughs, low and heavy. Each glimmer of his teeth, in his typical battle-crazed gin causes Izuku's heartbeat to spike and he can barely cope when Kacchan looks at him, blood peeling from his jaw to rasp out, 'you're pissing me off, nerd.'

Because that, in Kacchan's language is the equivalent of admitting that Izuku's getting better.

It still doesn't prevent him from ending up on the ground again six minutes later.

* * *

'You can't be losing,' Kacchan tells him as he shovels a rice-ball into his mouth. Izuku pauses to take a sip out of the grape-juice box he's selected; they're walking past familiar streets, past the shiny shimmer of familiar convenience store windows they'd used to smudge their noses against. It's a little sad how happy he is, happy to relive this chance to walk through their old neighbourhood together, as though nothing ever broke them apart.

Kacchan snorts, and practically inhales the roe-ball centre. 'All Might went out of his way to select a loser like you, so you'd better make the most of this, Deku. Otherwise what's the point of you being here?'

Izuku fiddles with the small straw attached to his mouth before he slips it back out. 'I won't,' he says firmly. It's on the root of his tongue, to ask how everyone is doing, but no, he has Uraraka and Iida for that, who still are willing to meet up with him, to wander round parks and gyms and share news. Kacchan…he's not sure what he has with Kacchan anymore. Something good, he hopes.

'You need to work more with your left leg,' Kacchan says, as though he hasn't noticed the distant look in Izuku's eyes. 'I don't know what that shit-stain of a school is teaching you Deku, but if you let that hold you back, then you won't be worthy of All Might's time in the first place.'

Izuku hums.

Kacchan glares at him. 'You even listening, nerd?'

'You're sort of telling me things I already know, Kacchan,' Izuku mumbles, ducking as Kacchan throws him a heated glare…but not much else. Honestly Izuku is touched. Kacchan doesn't need to spend time with outside their beat-down sessions, but he's doing it regardless. Some strange, stray thought of Izuku pulls at him, whispers that maybe, maybe, Kacchan is missing him on some level. He may have hated it, but Izuku has always been a constant presence in the background of his life. Maybe he's trying to fill this new hole up, one that he may have always wished for, but now doesn't know what to do with.

Izuku smiles and sips some more of his juice. Hole or not, Izuku plans to stand out in Kacchan's life, whether he's wanted there or not.

* * *

It's a bit of a surprise to him then, they end up at the same provisional lesson one day. Although the course they both attend is run by the same company, they're often split up, by location, to cover different parts of whatever new curriculum their individual examiners decided they should learn.

Izuku stares down at the piece of paper he's received and feels his mind turn hollow at the name of the building he's been placed at. He knows from Kacchan's few grunted answers, that this is the location Kacchan often ends up being told to go to too.

Urgh, he thinks, fending off his mother's worried prying that night, as she questions his slouched posture over steaming bowls of mackerel.

'I'm fine, Mom, really,' he stresses, in the face of her wide eyes. 'I'm sorry to worry you.'

Because it has to be fine, right? He and Kacchan are better, slightly, he can feel it; it's just…they haven't inhabited the same space in a more formal setting since the failed exam, and now, more than ever, people will be grading their behaviour and watching their every move. It's not like he can say 'no' to attending, but…

'You really should be there,' All Might mumbles to him the next morning, now upright and walking through hospital corridors, even gingerly trying a flight of stairs at one time, before the nurses bustle him back to bed. Even his school pushes him to attend.

'We're no U.A. and we know it,' his homeroom teacher advises. 'You need to grab hold of opportunities like this.'

So Izuku swallows and adjusts his face. He makes sure not even a stammer lies on his tongue as he greets a few of the other students there.

And then Kacchan marches in.

Izuku freezes. Kacchan bristles. They stare at each other.

Izuku opens his mouth. 'Kac-'

'Hi!' comes another bright and cheery voice and Izuku whirls, eyes wide, to see Camie. 'I-I-I' he stutters, before yanking out a miniature notepads he's stuffed into his utility belt.

Kacchan wastes no time in shooting him a look of disgust.

'You left early last time so I didn't get to ask,' Izuku presses out firmly, ignoring him. 'But what sort of presence-concealing technique do you use? And what sort of private training did you do to create it? The other Shiketsu student says your school doesn't offer that sort of thing…'

Camie blinks at him. Leans forward…and Izuku suddenly has the urge to duck behind Kacchan.

'Eh…' she says, before her eyes close and she tilts her head to one side with that same goofy look he's seen Uraraka wear when she doesn't understand her homework assignment. 'Sorry! My memory's kind of fuzzy! The truth is, I don't really remember too much about the exam I was supposed to have taken…'

Izuku blinks. And struggles, really struggles not to let the pen he's pulled out snap in two.

 _'How?'_ he says woodenly. 'How could you forget?'

She smiles at him, a certain puzzlement running behind her expression. 'Mmm…you're kinda plain, aren't you? Well, I guess those wide eyes and curly hair would appeal to the girls who like kittens and other cute things though…'

Izuku feels his jaw drop.

She whirls to Bakugou. 'And while you may not be as handsome as Todoroki-'

Oh my God, Izuku thinks as he sees Kacchan twitch.

'-you're still heaps better than your average student in the looks department!' She sticks her hand out. 'Mind giving me your contact info?'

That, Izuku thinks, ignoring the way his stomach jumps and gives him strange stabs at the sound of her question, is one brave girl. Or, he amends, one dead girl. He watches with a certain stupefied awe as Kacchan shakes and spits at her.

'THE HELL DO YOU CARE ABOUT USELESS JUNK LIKE THAT FOR!? WE'RE HERE TO THROW DOWN, NOT EXCHANGE KISSY EMOTICONS!'

The thought of Kacchan sending any kind of happy emoticon, 'kissy' or otherwise, has Izuku crouching, his hands wrapped frantically over his mouth as Kacchan turns to him, murder in his glare.

'OI, DEKU! GET UP! DON'T YOU DARE LOSE YOUR NERVE BEFORE I'VE CREAMED YOU!'

Camie places a finger on her lips, her head still cocked to one side. 'You'd rather yell at a cute boy than get the phone number of a pretty girl? Interesting…'

'NO IT'S NOT!' Kacchan screams at her, voice like thunder.

Izuku can't help himself. His hand falls away from his mouth completely and the laughter pours out, dances out into the ears of everyone around.

I'm dead, he thinks, as Kacchan twitches. Dead and served up for breakfast.

Kacchan is still angry, he can tell. But there's a trace of uncertainty there, in his eyes, and his usual bluster is missing as he snarls and stomps away.

'Whatever,' he growls, eyes shadowed by his hair. And Izuku ends up wondering if it's him who's missing something.

This, thinks Izuku, as he stares at the ramble of kids pouring forth. Is not what he expected. Some of them are already driving Kacchan crazy, practically kidnapping one of his gauntlets and tugging it across the floor with a clack and a bang, before shooting Kacchan a shit-eating grin and kicking it over to someone else like it's nothing more than a football.

Izuku wonders if he should help…except Kacchan will probably kill him for attempting to try. He looks round frantically at the kids clustered round him. But he can't see any sullen glimmers in their eyes, nothing like what he'd seen in Kota's. At least, Kota, for all his problems, was willing to _listen_ to an extent and didn't _want_ to actively cause problems for anyone else. These kids have no such restraint.

'Man,' says one of them tugging at his armoured legs. 'Your costume's so boring. So laaaame.' Then a crafty grin lights up their face. 'But these are kinda okay! So take these off! My quirk could put them to much better use!'

'Ah…' says Izuku carefully, not sure if he should risk pushing the child away or not. 'I'm afraid I can't do that. I wouldn't want to let the people who designed these for me down. They've put a lot of work into them…they'd be disappointed if I just gave them away.'

The kid pouts. 'Boo! You're an annoying good two-shoes! You sound like my parents when they tell me to listen to the teacher!'

Izuku finds her then, the teacher who'd brought them these…kids. Her face is drawn and pale, chalk-white, and her eyes as they trail over the kids, looks lost and afraid. _Help me,_ the exhausted droop of her expression seems to say. _Help me._

And Izuku feels something in him harden at the sight in response.

'You don't care if you make trouble for her?' he says, feeling a strange bite of coolness enter his voice. The kid must hear it too, because they gaze up at him, wide-eyed. 'Even though she clearly needs help? Does that mean you don't care about being a hero? Because a hero, well…they'd want o help someone asking for it.'

He gets a kick in the shins from another kid for the trouble. And another yelling about how he has no right to be lecturing them, when he's here, stuck without a license, causing trouble for the public safety bureau. It's only when the teacher comes forth and admits they she can't get the kids to listen to her at all, that's they'd too drunk on the crazy power of their quirks to respect her, that Kacchan barks out his derogatory opinion.

'This is a take-over,' he snarls. 'One of the kids here is calling the shots. No classroom wakes up one day and decides to launch a rebellion without reason. The teacher wasn't strong enough to enforce her 'leader' status so one of the other runts took advantage of the imbalance of power and took it for themselves!'

Izuku knows of his lonely middle-school years, of the way Kacchan would toe the lines of the school regulations while still mouthing off and pissing off people without causing too much harm. The situation isn't exactly the same, but there's still enough of a thread of similarity here, that makes him uncomfortable. None of the middle school teachers were what he would exactly call 'strong-willed' after all.

'We need to string 'em up!' Kacchan barks at the ceiling, hands cupping the air manically as he acts the part of every brutish villain Izuku has had the displeasure of viewing onscreen. Certainly, he can't help but let his face flicker between the teacher's, rapidly draining of all blood, and Kacchan's, which is alight with the idea of retribution. It gets even worse as Kacchan gleefully makes promises of punishment that sound, to Izuku's ears, more like grimly savoured ideas of execution.

Except Kacchan is smarter than that, and he lowers his voice as he spins round to Izuku and Camie, to quickly point out that the kids need to go toe-to-toe with people who can take what they're giving and dish it back out, without discouraging them or making them feel like shit. Izuku looks at him fondly, feeling his heart clench. Kacchan is so smart, often in ways people simple aren't willing to get when they first meet him. He's no doubt the kids are gonna fall for it, hook, line, and sinker.

He and Camie quickly interject with their own ideas, and in less than twenty seconds, they've come up with a very rough, workable plan. Izuku grins.

'I'm sure your shape-shifting quirk will be in handy! Kids love seeing stuff like that!'

Ca,ie looks at him, blinks, and then a truly awkward looks descends on her face. 'Huh…that explains it why you were acting like the paparazzi around me earlier. You saw me at the exam, huh?'

Izuku blinks, because that's an odd response, but Kacchan leans in with a grunt and flicks at his fringe. Izuku backs off a step, hand going to his head and feeling scandalised somewhat, as Kacchan stares at him, looking annoyed.

'Just how long are you going to slobber over her?'

Izuku mouths the word 'slobber' to himself in disbelief as Kacchan turns his attention back to the kids. 'Let's kick the shit out of these tykes.' Then he grins, low and hungrily. ' _Respectfully.'_

And on that in-no-way-alarming note _,_ Kacchan spins back round, musters up his most terrifying face and demands that the strongest kid in the room come and fight him.

Izuku feels his heart stutter. Kacchan, he thinks. _Please._

Because naturally none of the children respond. Except…expect for one, kid, his hair smartly parted as though he's a miniature business man, who rather coolly picks apart Kacchan's choice to throw down a challenge as 'out-dated.'

Izuku narrows his eyes. Well. Kacchan was looking for a leader, right? He steps forward.

'Kacchan,' he says urgently.

But Kacchan just snorts. 'Shut up, Deku,' he mutters stiffly. 'I already know.'

The cool-looking kid gives a small, almost delicate sniff. 'Even your nickname sense is unimaginative. You just made a pun on the characters in his name.'

Izuku blinks as Kacchan scoffs right back. 'Um…'he says quietly. 'It's actually my hero name too.'

The kid blinks. Eyes impossibly wide. The look he shoots Izuku is a mix between disgust and sheer bafflement. 'Why?' he asks. 'Do you want to be considered lower than everybody else? Why would you…nobody _wants_ to be lower than anybody else.'

It's like Izuku's torn a hole in his world view and while he could do without Kacchan's gleeful chuckling in the background, he steps forward to explain that no, the word Deku can have a different meaning if you're willing to change your perspective, the way Uraraka showed him and…

'I've had enough,' the kid says with a face like thunder. 'Just because you're born a few years earlier than us…you think you can say and do whatever you want. But it's because you're not strong enough that our parents keep wearing just frightened looks on their faces all the time.'

Kacchan's face closes off.

And it's now that things become chaotic. Because as though these words have loosened some silent string of tension running through the kids, they come charging towards them, unleashing their quirks all at once. Luckily of course, they're never really faced people who aren't afraid to hit back and defend themselves and it makes Izuku wonder for a brief moment what their teachers quirk is, or if she even has one; it would certainly explain a lot if she were quirkless, or simply possessed one the kids deem 'uncool.'

He kicks out at some odd black balls that spring at him and try to sink their teeth into his chest, and spins, creating a whirlwind of motion that blows back some energy beams and a group of sprouting flowers that fly through the air like arrows. He leaps back, sparing a glance at Camie, who seems agile enough to avoid anything coming her way and…

Izuku blinks and narrowly avoids getting hit in the head by something small and silver, like a jagged meteorite. Because Kacchan is strutting up to a small girl, his posture unaggressive and confident, and all without the usual slouch to his spine.

'I'm sorry I was so uncouth,' he says smoothly, an honest-to-god twinkle in his eye. 'Tell me little lady,' he practically purrs, a hand dripping down into her vision and Izuku _goggles._ 'Would you like to stop this fighting? Your perfect face makes me ashamed to expose you to such violence.'

There's not even a frown on his face. _There's not even a frown on his face._

And then Kacchan vanishes in a puff of smoke.

Izuku blinks and spots Camie strutting into view, her hand perched on her cap jauntily, all so she can tug it down into a cool angle. Oh, he thinks woodenly, that's an…amazing quirk. But…he thought she was a shape-shifter, not simply an illusion creator? And then he gives a start because, oh, the real Kacchan is glaring over at the girl and is clearly very unhappy.

 ** _'Do that again, and I'll murder you,'_** he practically howls at her.

But unfased, she simply winks at him. 'Aw, come on now! If you presented yourself like that a little more, you would have the girls flocking to you. And maybe some boys too. Whatever you like. U.A. doesn't restrict the building of romantic relationships the way Shiketsu does. You should take advantage of it.' Her grin bears teeth. 'L.O.L.'

Kacchan turns vaguely purple. But there's no time to worry about if he's choking or not. The kids are actually falling back a little, looking daunted.

'Camie,' he mutters urgently, 'Kacchan…'

'Yeah,' Kacchan mutters. 'Just like we said.'

It almost sounds reassuring, the way he says it. Almost.

Kacchan turns his palms up. Braces himself, legs spread wide apart. And then up roars a golden fountain of heat that pops and explodes into bubble-like waves that tear into the world, bright and violent and glorious. It casts multiple reflections of light within the children's eyes, like multiple candle flames, as they stop and stare at the large boundary of light that is pulled up from a single boy's palms like a massive firework.

Izuku races forward during this hushed awe, seizing the odd flower or rock leftover from the kids' unleashed quirks, and shoving it up into the rapidly-heated air with his kicks so it rains down like blackened confetti over the wave of light. It is almost as though a volcano has come into being, belching up ash and grit within the atmosphere, and Camie completes the effect, as she leans forward and sketches the imprint of said volcano beneath the light and dirt, with a few second's worth of her quirk's focus.

'Hey!' he calls out. 'All of you are amazing! I couldn't do any of this stuff with, um, my quirk when I was your age!'

He ignores the aggressive snort echoing from Kacchan's mouth behind him. And the children gasp as unicorns and dragons start swirling of the dust to nuzzle and spring round their small shapes; Camie's quirk, taking advantage of the debris to lend her illusions deeper shadows. He turns, now that's brought him a little more time and spins, pointing to the boy who can unleash the biting balls. 'Like you! I bet you your quirk could clean up all these rocks that Kacchan's quirk breaks apart faster than he could explode it away!'

' **OI!** ' he hears behind him. But he ignores it.

'And you!' he whirls round to the little girl with flowers sprouting out of her head. 'You're so fast with the way you fire your flowers off.' He scoops a slightly tattered stem off the ground, straightening the petals with his finger and thumb. Then, taking a breath, he tries to imitate the walk and manner of the Camie's illusion-created Kacchan seconds ago. 'Hey,' he says, but less confidently, a shy gentleness in his tone he can't quite disguise. 'You could create a bouquet faster than any western wedding shop could. And you could probably disable villains by aiming at their vital spots; you don't need something big and flashy. I saw you aiming for our legs and eyes; you understand how to get the best use out of your quirk really well.' He tucks the slightly bruised flower behind her ear, ignoring the internal screams he feels rise up inside him at his own behaviour.

Because this. Is. So. Not. Him! But perhaps it needs to be, if he's to live up to All Might's expectations.

He turns, feeling his smile turn crooked, eyes already sweeping the children and cataloguing the individual quirks he'd picked out. Already he's drawing up pros and cons to each, focusing on the pros; like Kacchan said, these kids don't need to be torn down. They just need their enthusiasm moderated.

'We would all love to hear your ideas about how you'd use your quirks as heroes,' he says softly. 'And if there's something you'd like to try, that you feel unsure about, we can get Camie to make an illusion of how you want it to play out, and we can work out how to do it from there.' He smiles. 'Her illusions looked really real, just now right? Even though you know they're not? That's thanks to all the dust and projectiles your quirks left behind for her to work with.'

He catches Kacchan at the corner of his eye, giving him a weird look. One of those calmer ones, free of anger and spite. Izuku shakes his head to clear it, and gets to work.

* * *

Afterwards, Camie slips him her number, shoves it into his hand as free and easy as you like. 'You're not really my type,' she tells him with a gentle look. 'But maybe you can put in a word for your good-looking friend?' She laughs. 'Besides; you did look kinda hot at the end there, when you actually let yourself be confident.'

Izuku sputters. And Kacchan marches up, his face black and his brow twisted.

'Oh dear,' says Camie. 'No, on second thought I'm not really into being the submissive one in a relationship; I don't think he'd like it if _I_ took control.' And she slips away with a wink and wave, leaving Izuku to sputter and turn crimson in her wake.

Kacchan growls at him, then turns his eyes down to the piece of paper she's left in Izuku's hands and growls again. Izuku quickly shoves the offending material in his pocket before Kacchan has any nasty ideas about burning it.

But Kacchan just stares at him a moment.

'Don't go getting ahead of yourself,' he mutters. Then he glances to the side. 'You free or something, now?' And then on seeing Izuku's surprised look, barks out 'yes or no, nerd?'

'I…' Izuku lets his eyes trail down then up. 'I'm…I don't feel like fighting right now.'

Kacchan scoffs. 'Then don't,' he grunts. 'Stupid Deku. Never said that's what I wanted, right?' and then he starts yanking at Izuku's arm like he's nothing more that the small business-man-lookalike Izuku saw him towing round the class, forcing him to get involved. 'If you ain't got anything better to do, then what's the problem?!'

Izuku isn't sure what to do with this. He can't actually remember Kacchan tugging at him for anything. Just pointing and telling him to hurry up, of shoving at him, telling him to get lost.

This…this is new data. Izuku should pay attention to this.

'Ow!' he says. 'Kacchan, I want to keep my arm, not have it dragged out of its socket!'

Kacchan clicks his teeth together contemptuously. 'Then get moving, nerd!'

With only the smallest amount of hesitance, Izuku starts walking. Better that than a strained arm muscle.

* * *

'So,' Kacchan asks him, stirring the drink he has in front of him violently with a straw. 'You gotten any better?'

Izuku glances at him across the table, are of those red eyes being able to lock into his and make him feel small. Most days, most times, he's all wobbly around Kacchan. Sometimes he wishes he could stand a little firmer.

'I hope so,' he answers, and Kacchan snorts.

'There's no 'hope,' about. You either have gotten better, or you haven't. Now,' he says, eyes drilling into Izuku's. 'Have you gotten better?'

Izuku swallows. Fights to reach out for his own drink, some fruity blend of melon and blackberry Kacchan had sneered at. 'Yes,' he says quickly, draining the cup in a few gulps, simply because it gives him an excuse to look away from Kacchan red, red, eyes.

When he puts the glass, lets the wet slide of it leave his fingers, Kacchan nods, decisively. 'You'd better have.' Then he pauses. 'Given Round Face a call lately?'

Izuku blinks, and quickly checks his phone...only to be greeted by a series of photos from Camie, featuring an egplant, an oddly curved teapot spout and the long, lean red line of the Kyoto Tower. He stares for a moment, then abruptly slides it away. 'Uraraka? No-ooo…should I have?'

Kacchan stares at him. 'Do it,' he practically orders. 'She's gone through something rough lately at her internship.'

Then sets the nerves jumping in Izuku's stomach, but before he can panic too much, Kacchan leans over the table, enough to infect Izuku's personal space with his heat and Izuku's nerves rage even harder, in a slightly different direction.

'But don't call that Illusion girl. She'd crush you stupid.'

Izuku's face flares up. 'W-what! But she seems really nice…and there's a few things I need to ask her about her quirk too…'

A look of disgust cross Kacchan's face. 'Damn nerd. Should have known that would be the only thing that would draw you to a girl…' but there's an odd sense of relief to his speech and Izuku frowns at it.

'I…Kacchan are you really that…' competitive, he wants to ask. But instead he says, 'I didn't know you cared about dating.'

Kacchan flares up. 'ONLY BECAUSE A LOSER LIKE YOU WOULD LOSE FOCUS IF HE GOT WITH ANYBODY!'

Izuku puffs out his chest. 'I would not! Besides…' and here he winces. 'It would be weird, right? To have someone call you by your first name. I mean, that's what happens when you date, right? The only person who calls me Izuku is my Mom.'

Kacchan stares at him. 'I'm not calling you Izuku.' He says bluntly.

And Izuku's world comes crashing to a halt. He stares at Kacchan open-mouthed. Did he…? He did not!

Kacchan smiles at him, wide and gloating, with only the barest trace of fear in his eyes. 'Get it already, you damn Deku.'

But 'Deku's' mind is still whirling, processing. Kacchan has not called him Izuku since he was four. And now, right now, those three syllables have rammed their way into his ears from across the table. There was nothing monumental about them. There was no heat in the word, no anger. Kacchan had said it so _normally._

And…and of course.

Izuku's brings his hand up to his mouth, runs his fingers over the bumps of his lips. They feel soft, almost tender, and impossibly dry. He can't even speak.

Kacchan sighs. Gets up. And grabs his arm.

* * *

It amazes Izuku that Kacchan, despite the fear that lurks in his eyes, doesn't seem to expect Izuku to actually say 'no.'

'Izuku,' he says bluntly, as he knocks his shoulder against Izuku's own.

'Izuku,' he says more slowly, as he slides his hand over the twisting touch of Izuku's clammy wrist.

'Iz-zu-ko,' he stresses teasingly, biting out three short clips of sound into the shell of Izuku's disbelieving ear.

He squeals at that last part, and Kacchan laughs meanly.

'Treasure it, Deku. You'll never hear it again.'

Coming home, these are the snapshots of memory that will haunt Izuku, that will drive all thoughts of other colours and sights out of his mind.

'I,' he says, no stammers, as Kacchan makes to leave him, 'I.'

'Will be here. Tomorrow,' Kacchan states, a vague, almost threat in his eyes. And then he leaves. As though nothing's changed at all. Izuku stares after him. There's something locked here, in his chest. Then it bursts open into...

Relief. Triumph. A sense of finality, of elation. It pushes him into his dreams that night, chases him down.

'Izuku,' it says. 'Izuku.' The voice is like a rhyme, like a line in a poem that's been recited fondly, a thousand times. It sounds warm and gruff. Not bitten out and angry. It is a welcome respite from the flood of pictures Camie will have sent him in the morning, when Izuku will awaken to discover more photos of an eggplant, the Kyoto tower, and a suspiciously curved teapot spout to greet him. It will be another two minutes before the imagery lends itself to a phallic connotation in his mind, and his face will explode into a cloud of red.

But for now, in his dreams, Izuku will snuggle down further into his sheets and smile.


End file.
